Cats roll into first

The Mudcats rolled right along with their 5th straight victory, moving into first place in the Morris Division. Carlos Delgado's fifth inning home run started a three-run rally that gave the Cats the lead en route to a 4-2 win over D.C. John Maine, acquired from Philadelphia who acquired Maine from D.C. before the season started, earned his first win of the year with a solid 7 inning, 4-hit effort. Maine had been a disaster in his previous starts for Philly and Carolina - he had a 12.27 ERA entering the game, but lowered it to a still horrible, but less ghastly, 7.20 after Tuesday's start.

Carolina managed to take first because Vancouver lost another nailbiter to Las Vegas 7-6. The Fist actually got off to a 5-1 lead after three innings, but Vegas had a huge 4-run 6th inning to tie it up. Joe Mauer hit a solo homer in the 7th to give the Rats a 6-5 lead, then scored an insurance run in the 8th. They ended up needing that insurance because Vancouver got back another run in the 9th, but Adam LaRoche struck out with runners on base to end the game.

Hoboken and New Jersey battled it out for 11 innings yesterday, with the Cutters finagling a 9-8 win after the dust cleared. The Cutters busted out with a 5-0 lead after 3 and then extended it to 7-3. But the Buddahs battled back in the 8th, scoring 4 runs, highlighted by a 3-run Mike Jacobs home run. David DeJesus gave the Buddahs the lead in the 9th with a solo home run, but Mike Napoli answered him back with a solo homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Finally in the 11th, Marlon Byrd hit a walkoff home run to win the game and stave off humiliation for the Cutters. DeJesus missed hitting for the cycle in the game by a double, going 4-6 with 2 singles. DeJesus said he would have tried to stretch the second single into a double, but his shoelace was untied.

The Sugar Bears scored 8 runs in the first inning against the Sardine City Straphangers, but were lucky to escape with a victory. Little by little, the Sardines battled back, making it a 9-4 game entering the ninth. Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer to make the score 9-7 but it was too little too late. The rest of the team went down in order to end the game.